New Health Information Resources from AHRQ

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) now has available three new publications that highlight data on the quality of health care and disparities experienced by women, children and minorities in the American health care system. The publications are titled:

Selected Findings on Women’s Health CareChild and Adolescent Healthcare and Minority Health care. These spin-off products were developed from AHRQ’s 2010 National Healthcare Quality Report and National Healthcare Disparities Report, which focus on national trends in health care for Americans. Each of the three summaries presents health measures of interest on prevailing disparities in health care delivery in priority populations, highlighting progress and opportunities for improvement and directs readers to the full reports for more detailed information.

Following are some of the measures that are included in the summaries:

Women’s Health:

A significant decrease in colorectal cancer among females age 50 and over during 2000 to 2007, with the rate falling from 83 to 67 per 100,000 during that time.

Women, especially those 65 and older, are more likely to die from a heart attack. Smoking and obesity both contribute to or worsen heart disease.

Children’s Health:

In 2008, more than a third of children ages 12-17 with major depression received treatment.

Non-Hispanic Black children were the only racial/ethnic group that experienced an improvement in addressing obesity.

Immunization rates fluctuated among all racial, ethnic and income groups from 2000 to 2008.

Minority Health:

Blacks, American Indians and Alaska Natives, Hispanics and Asians continue to have worse access to care than Whites.

While the percentage of people with health insurance increased for poor people, it worsened for middle-income people.

Limited English proficiency is a barrier to quality health care for many Americans.